16 posts in this topic

So it's been a while since my promised reviews. Sorry about that.
Universal Studios was a pretty entertaining day. It was also the first time we met a coca-cola freestyle machine. ~160 different drink choices from the same machine....
As with the other parks I've reviewed the order in which I went on things makes no real difference so I again review in order of appearance on the website.
Studio Tour - This was actually the first thing we went on for the day. We arrived about 10.45 and after having a quick breakfast - I must say the breaky burrito was awesome - we waited in line for almost an hour before finally getting on the tour. It was quite impressive, much of it being the same as it was a few years ago when I was there this time with the impressive addition of the King Kong 3D show. It really is amazing the way they have done it, you drive into the building and inside is a dome completely surrounding the cars. The entire thing is a 3d screen with an impressive show of King Kong vs some T-rex's with movement and water effects. It's quite interesting to see all the different movie sets and props and the effort they put in to rebuilding them after the fire a few years ago. I feel sorry for the poor guy who plays norman bates though, he is the only non-automated attraction and would just have to do the same 2minute skit over and over each day (obviously there would be more than one actor, but still, a 2min skit over and over for a couple of hours would still do your head in). The only downside of this was it was "hosted" by Jimmy Fallon so you have to endure several lame skits during the tour.
Revenge of the Mummy - Eh, it had a short queue, but the ride feels like it only lasts about 1 minute if that. It's a nice fast dark ride though but once we got to the end we couldn't help the feeling of "oh, is that it?"
Jurassic Park - Another water ride in reasonably cold weather and a bit of wind. A few people were braving it and the queue was around 30mins or so.
Terminator 2 3D - I don't know if it was just the actors' improv or if it was scripted but damn I'm sick of the word "super" now, or should I say "suuperrrrrrrrrr" It was the end of every damn sentence she said. As for it being advertised as being some sort of well not 4D, but lets call it a "force-feedback" show, we were really unimpressed by the "effects" in the seats. At the end of the show we got lifted up 10cm or so once, then dropped back the normal height shortly after that. Not sure again if that's normal or something wasn't working. Overall I wasn't really impressed by the show as it seemed really dated and you could see how much the technology has improved since it was made.
House Of Horrors - We had planned on visiting this on the way out but ran out of time. It's a scary walk-through attraction.
Animal Actors - Due to us seeing Terminator we didn't have time to see it. Wish I'd skipped T23D to check it out though.
Universal Experience - Wow, that sucked. It was just a few props in some glass display cabinets. Not really the "Go behind the scenes of Universal's film legacy in this interactive exhibit featuring authentic props, wardrobe and artifacts from past, present and upcoming Universal Productions. Movie fans of all ages will see displays from many Academy Award® winning films like Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Jaws and Psycho. The Oscar® statue for 1973's Best Picture The Sting will also be on display." that sounded interesting from the website.
Simpsons Ride - That was awesome. The wait time was 15mins and the ride is a motion-simulated-non-looping-coaster. Once we were sitting in the cars we were wondering what was going to happen since there was no obvious screen in front of us. Then we were lifted through the roof and into a surround dome screen like King Kong. We loved the ride and would have done it several more times if time permitted.
Shrek 4D - Universal had it years before movieworld made their clone.
Adventures of Curious George - A nice kids water play area.
Waterworld - We were supposed to see it but didn't get a chance to due to being caught up watching other shows or being on rides. I'd seen it before but was a little disappointed to miss it.
Special Effects Stage - Wasn't as interesting as I remembered it being a few years ago but wasn't bad none the less to see how some effects were made before the CGI era.
Blues Brothers - Just some musical show we didn't bother with.
Overall 8/10
Rides 8/10 (Only thanks to Simpsons and the Tour - but this isn't really a ride park)
Food 7/10
Theming 9/10 - Well it is a movie set after all so the backlot tour was really well themed and the simpsons queue and ride was excellent.
On a side note - There is a lot of construction going on near the back of the park behind a massive wall showing a Transformers logo so it will be interesting to see what happens there. Ok - a quick bit of google-ing show there is a ride going in there in which case for a ride announce in 2008 I would have expected work to have started before 2010, but still they've done quite a bit to remove backdraft, relocated the special effects show and remake the buildings.
Not something you'd really want to advertise...
And finally...... "OMG THEY'RE LOOSE!"

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At the end of the show we got lifted up 10cm or so once, then dropped back the normal height shortly after that. Not sure again if that's normal or something wasn't working.

From memory, the seats lift up slowly when the T1000 (or whatever that spider terminator was) first appears to build up tension, and they drop at the grand finale when the T1000 gets defeated and falls...Memory is hazy, but the drop took me by surprise.
Edited July 8, 2011 by Gazza

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I went in 2008 and the lady in the Terminator did the same thing, saying "Superrr!" at the end of every sentence, however the croed seemed to love it and a whole bunch of people were all shouting it out along with her, so must be a running thing. I'm with you and found it annoying.

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Jurassic Park - Another water ride in reasonably cold weather and a bit of wind. A few people were braving it and the queue was around 30mins or so.

Actually the ride isn't bad to ride in cold weather. When I was there in early January this year, I rarely got wet at all and only the people in the front got wet and a few select people got hit by the spitting dinos. I actually got wetter on the studio tour in the Jurassic park segment when one of the spitting dino started spitting and moving its head as the same speed as the tram so its entire shot went onto me.

Terminator 2 3D - I don't know if it was just the actors' improv or if it was scripted but damn I'm sick of the word "super" now, or should I say "suuperrrrrrrrrr" It was the end of every damn sentence she said. As for it being advertised as being some sort of well not 4D, but lets call it a "force-feedback" show, we were really unimpressed by the "effects" in the seats. At the end of the show we got lifted up 10cm or so once, then dropped back the normal height shortly after that. Not sure again if that's normal or something wasn't working. Overall I wasn't really impressed by the show as it seemed really dated and you could see how much the technology has improved since it was made.

Yes the Super line is written into the script but Americans love it.
Also the seats slowly rise up and suddenly drop at the end like you said.

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Wow I'm really surprised to hear your thoughts on T2.
For me it's still my favorite 4D attraction.
The Super thing is hilarious, you got that it is a put on right? Well judging by your comments I guess not, her backwards insults to the guests are tops and they are clearly having a piss take at all generic 4d pre show hosts. It's meant to be hokey and dated.
Surprising that you didn't like the feature, only using the seats once has impact for me rather than being gymicy, add to that the actors coming out of the screen, the in theatre animatronics and the insane co2 cloud and it's a real winner for me.
You said you've seen waterworld so you know you missed out, that would have been a priority for me.
Everyone can have their own opinions but from reading your reports it seems to me you kinda missed the point of much of universal and Disney.

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Wow I'm really surprised to hear your thoughts on T2.
For me it's still my favorite 4D attraction.
The Super thing is hilarious, you got that it is a put on right? Well judging by your comments I guess not, her backwards insults to the guests are tops and they are clearly having a piss take at all generic 4d pre show hosts. It's meant to be hokey and dated.

Well I get that it was put on, but I wasn't sure if it was scripted like that or if the chick had decided to do it by herself for the sake of it. It might sound silly, but if I was to be running a show like that, I'd keep trying to change it slightly to keep myself entertained too.

Surprising that you didn't like the feature, only using the seats once has impact for me rather than being gymicy, add to that the actors coming out of the screen, the in theatre animatronics and the insane co2 cloud and it's a real winner for me.

I think it still would have been non-gimicky if they had made the seats vibrate or something during the explosions and not just for a drop once. It's not like they didn't have the money or technology to do it.

You said you've seen waterworld so you know you missed out, that would have been a priority for me.

I would have loved to have seen it again but once we were on the studio tour, next time we were down in the back lot and wouldn't have made it back once we realised the time, and last time we were watching terminator or something. Time gets away from you in places like that, especially when you can't use the sun as a guide.

Everyone can have their own opinions but from reading your reports it seems to me you kinda missed the point of much of universal and Disney.

Sounds like you're saying Waterworld and Jurrassic Park are the "point" of universal and Space mtn and BTMR was the "point" of Disney?
If I've seen things before I would rather spend the time seeing things I didn't last time than miss out on them again.

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Also how to did you run out of time at Universal the park isn't that big, or were the line on the big side. If anyone looks at going to the US theme parks go in january when everyone has gone back to schoool and work becuase we did Knott's and Universal and the longest line we had was about 5 minutes at any attraction and the only thing we didn't do was Waterworld because it was close for refurbishments.

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I'm not saying that any particular attraction is "the point" of the parks. I dunno, maybe it's just me but both your reviews came off as kinda 'meh' when I was reading them which I just don't understand from two parks with such great attractions.
And to be honest, if I had that much time there, and I had travelled so far to the parks, I wouldn't be passing up attractions just because I had ridden them before, but hey, that's just me.

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^That's what I was wondering too, it did seem like you missed out on a lot of good stuff needlessly (Why no Sierra Sidewider at Knotts, Deja Vu at SFMM etc).
I'm sort of with Dj, if I've outlayed say $2000 just getting across in the first place, and have the whole day at the park anyway, I try and just do everything, even stuff that might not look exciting on first impressions...I've discovered a few surprising hits that way.

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My mate just got back from the states (his first visit) and he bought the VIP Experience
I havent done it, so not talking from first hand experience - but he said it was definitely worth it, and if he was to go back, despite now having done it he would buy it again.
From what he mentioned you get: an extended backlot tour with a lot more stuff than the regular tour - see a few more sets, you get to go into the props room and actually touch and take photos with props from movies, you get driven around in buggy so not too much walking, you get a buffet lunch which was apparently very good, front of line access to all rides all day (no fastpass type time limit thing - just go to the front anytime you want) and 20% off all merchandise.
All up pretty good - i'd definitely do it next time i head over

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front of line access to all rides all day (no fastpass type time limit thing - just go to the front anytime you want) and 20% off all merchandise.

The front of the line pass is not always useful. When I was there in January last year, it was school time over there and hardly anyone was in the park. We actually had a couple going into the front of the line, line for the mummy and we actually got to the front of the line quicker then they did. That whole day it was walk on every attraction at the park, even the studio tour. There were a few with the pass, so that day Universal made a few hundred bucks for giving people absolutely nothing.
Also 20% is really good. I had an annual pass when I went as it was the same price as a one day and we planned to go to the park on two days. Its a great feature. Except you need to remember to show them when you make a purchase.